my supervisor said to me recently "oh, the end of PhDs is always like this, haha" - I didn't find it funny :-(

right, dog walk - clear my head, take my rage out on the field and then come back and plan the lecture for next week, so I can then get on with my PhD tomorrow.

dog walk done, tea brewing. Onwards! Why is it that every convo with sup leaves me feeling wretched and demoralised? surely this isn't what her supervision should do??

Sorry Sneaks and Ady but I'm starting to think that Ady's sup is right, that ALL sups tell us to make changes shortly before submission and we ALL get super stressed pre-submission. Not sure they are quite aware of the impact of their required changes or how long it takes to make these either.

No Sneaks, I don't think supervisors have 'demoralisers' as their middle names but maybe they should! lol

Sorry, I'm just feeling a bit resentful right now (and a tad better that i'm not the only one going through this... so thank you for sharing your experiences)

Just needed to pop back to say: 'I've managed to do everything I planned today!!' Well done me!! (up)

I've not managed to do this in ages so I'm well chuffed, plus I've had a good chat with one of my mates who got a phd recently and she was reassuring me of how being so stressed and uncertain of your work is expected at this stage, so I feel normal again woohoo.

Ok, I admit, I have had lots of caffeine today and I might have overdone it as I'm sleep deprived and have been knackered all day... sorry for being hyper (I don't normally drink coffee which probably hasn't helped either...)

I'm up early today because I have my 1st lecture to do with a new group and I'm nervous - particularly about setting up the technical stuff as there seems to be little tech help - so if it fails, it fails :-(

GOals today:

- walk the dog
- change ppt slides slightly
- do analysis
- do lecture
- meet 2 students
- finish off lecture for next week and upload

Well done, Skig. Hope you managed to sleep through the caffeine though!

And good luck with the lecture, Sneaks.

Yesterday, I drew up a detailed plan of what I'd do every week for the next year (submission in 12 months), at the request of my supervisors. And nearly had a heart attack when I saw how difficult it's going to be to fit everything in. But it's given me some impetus to really get on with stuff, which is good I suppose!

Anyway, goals for today:
1.) Finalise year plan (try to make it more realistic!)
2.) Send off proposed title for conference paper
3.) Contact co-author of journal paper about the comments she still hasn't sent me
4.) Sort out 3 SPSS data files and get ready to clean data

Thank you Batfink! Some chamomile tea and a warm shower seemed to have done the trick...

I have to edit another chapter today so I'm breaking it down into the following:
1) Edit the first section of the chapter
2) Edit the second section
And then lunch. I'll review my goals then.

Forgot to ask yesterday, how did it go on Monday Ady?

Thanks Skig - interview was fine, actually quite general so difficult to know exactly how it went. It was for an admin-section in a university and as far as I know they are formulating a panel for numerous vacancies - we'll see... One question I was asked was to give an example of when I carried out a reserach project - hmmmmmm, now let's see ... ;-)

Good luck! I hope you get it! Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Most stuff is done, need to do some minor editing from those sections but I think it should be ok.
Goals now:
1) Edit the third section
2) Edit the fourth if I get the time (and the fifth if there's one, I'm losing count!)
3) Do some food shopping as I have no bread and no milk
4) Change fish tank water
I'm going to try to these in this order so that once I'm done, I can re-read the whole thing before the end of the day.

Morning!

Goals for today
1) Do more editing
2) Change the fish tank's water (I ran out of time yesterday!)

I'm losing track of what else I need to do so I'll come back with the rest later...

Morning!

I've been working since 7.30 am but for some reason my uni laptop won't go online, so I've had to switch my other laptop on just to be able to check emails (and, erm, to mess around online!). Very annoying. But it does make me realise how often I take a break by going online - something I should knock on the head really, it takes up too much time and isn't a proper break from the screen anyway.

Oh well. I'm off out this afternoon, friends visiting from Wales, so I want to get as much done as I can before then. I'm sorting out my SPSS data files - each variable needs programming, it's taking ages but if I can get the first of the three files finished today I'll be happy.

Yes, today's goal met so now I can go and meet my friends with a clear conscience!

Good luck with the work everyone!

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Have fun Batfink!

I've finished what I'd planned for the morning so I'm off to lunch and then check what's next...

Edit to say I haven't changed the water so I'll do that after lunch and then review goals!